Backyard Chickens – The 5 Best Breeds For Egg Layers

When we started raising backyard chickens, we put a lot of thought and research into the best egg layer hens to buy. Learning which breeds were best for our purpose saved us time as well as money by avoiding buying chickens not suitable for what we wanted. Now, twenty years later, we know which breeds work best for us. So which the best chicken for largest laying eggs?

Backyard Chicken Breeds for Egg Layers

All hens produce edible eggs but, only certain chicken breeds make the best egg layer hens, excelling at egg production. Personally, I prefer brown eggs so I base my breed choices on ones known for laying brown eggs. However, brown eggs are not healthier than white eggs: I just like brown eggs. The chicken’s diet controls the health benefits of eggs, the richness and color of the yolk and the bird’s overall health.

Many people argue that you can’t taste the difference between store-bought eggs and fresh eggs—I say, “baloney”, because not only are the yolks richer and more nutritious, they also have a better taste than any other eggs found in the grocery store. Raising chickens organically and cage free produces healthier and tastier eggs and meat. Once you try an organic meat chicken, free of antibiotics, hormones and other chemicals, you’ll never want chicken from the store again.

Treats for Your Girls – They’ll Love Them

5 Best Egg Layer Hens

Rhode Island Red: This is my favorite layer, due to their medium size brown eggs and their above average laying rate. Being both cold and heat hardy, Rhode Island Reds are good for any climate. They are easy to care for because they adapt well to a penned or free-range environment. Reds are an aggressive breed so be careful what breeds you place them with. This dual-purpose breed is well-known for both egg production and meat. If you want a do everything breed, the Rhode Island Red is the one to pick.

Leghorn: The best backyard chickens for lots of eggs, these chickens lay extra-large white eggs, producing over 300 a year. Even with their smaller size, they make a good dual-purpose chicken; using them for meat, once their laying production declines. If you want a meatier chicken go with the Plymouth Rock. Their egg production is lower but they are a large chicken, with an average weight of 10 pounds. While I prefer brown eggs, I always include a few Leghorns for their terrific laying rates.

Buff Orpington: This breed has an above average production of large brown eggs. Their friendly nature and cold weather hardiness makes them an excellent beginner chicken. If you plan to raise chicks, the Orpington is a good brooder and excellent mother. They also make good pets and I wouldn’t have a flock without one or two Orpingtons. However, because of their docile nature, other birds pick on them so they don’t do well with aggressive breeds.

Black Star: The hens are above average layers of large brown eggs and begin lying around five months. They are a hardy breed and easy to raise. These hybrid chickens are a cross between Barred Rock hens and Rhode Island Red roosters. The chicks are easily color sexed, meaning you identify males and females by their color. The males are black while hens have gold plumage on their neck and breast. The Black Star is another good beginner breed with a calm nature making them good pets.

Ameraucana: Also known as Easter Eggers, these backyard chickens lay eggs in various shades of blue, blue-green, green and cream. These easy to handle birds lay medium size eggs, are winter hardy and have average to above average egg production. Ameracuanas adapt well to confinement or free range and are calm and non-aggressive making them a good family chicken. Your kids will love collecting the colorful eggs.

Our Conclusion

Try various breeds for your backyard flock. Finding the best egg layer hens starts by understanding you desired results. If you want both meat and egg layers, I recommend including dual-purpose chickens like the Leghorn, and meat chickens like the Plymouth Rock. A flock of three to four hens gives a family of four an adequate amount of eggs but, I always have a flock of ten, usually more.

This is great! I have never had chickens but today I bought 6 Reds. They are pullets and should lay in 5 weeks. We have them for laying eggs. Not for meat. what breeds should I steer clear of to mix with the ones I have?

Welcome to the world of backyard chickens! Rhode Island Red, in my opinion at least, is the best breed you can get for laying hens. They not only lay a bunch of eggs, they adapt well to just about any climate and are fairly docile. Our reds love interacting with us. The only hens we raise these days are Reds, Araucanas, and Orpingtons.

I have kept Reds with all 5 of the breeds I mention in this article with no aggression problems at all. Plus, these 5 breeds are fairly easy to come by. However, I would not get Rhode Island Red roosters as they are known for their aggressiveness. We don’t keep roosters at all any longer since we don’t breed our own chicks.

We have Reds, Orpingtons, and Ameraucanas all together with no issues at all. All chickens will have some tiffs, but our blend rarely do. Leg Horns are the ones that can be aggressive. Even though they are great layers, I would not mix them with others.

Rhode Island Red roosters are “very” aggressive so I don’t recommend keeping them. We stopped keeping any type of roosters a couple of years ago because they are aggressive with each other and us, and can hurt the hens. We just decided we would purchase sexed chicks from eFowl and keep nothing but hens. If we do occasionally get a rooster, we sell them.

I love Reds for layers. They lay regularly, except when they are molting and then it slows, but their eggs are large and brown. Can’t go wrong with Reds. Hope this helps.

I buy from them a lot and they have all the chickens I mentioned here. The last time I bought my Rhode Island Reds from them, I didn’t lose any. They were in great shape other than being thirsty and hungry after their trip. They have great customer service and if you have any questions, just call them. You can also get your chicks vaccinated for Merek’s disease before they ship them, which I recommend.

Great article! Do you have a link that shows all the books you have published on chicken-egg-farms (if you have any at all)? I would like to start a chicken farm, but have no idea where to start, so I would highly appreciate it! 🙂

Ps. Any tips for someone starting a chicken farm? I used to own two back when I was younger; they were in our backyard and my siblings and I would take it in turns to go collect the eggs, but I don’t know how starting a farm would go/work. I’m wondering about things such as how many chickens would be good to start with; how many would be a good amount for an egg farm; how much room the chickens would need (to be free range), etc.? Do you have an article/book on that? Both? Thanks again! 🙂

First question would be, are you planning to sell eggs on a large scale or just small scale to farmers markets? The amount of hens you need depends on what you are planning. We have about 20 hens and have enough eggs to sell to our local feed store and farm gate sales. Enough to pay for the girls feed.

My 12 year old daughter owns her own chicken egg buissness, because she bought 32 chickens herself! I offered to pay, and she says “No thank you I want these chickens to know that I will care for them and that even though I do not have them I love them and she bought them! I am so proud of her!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂 Please buy from me at http://www.schmidtfamilyfarms.com

I found it interesting that you answered Adam Kumalo’s question ” How many eggs does Rhode island red lay a day?” by saying that “Rhode Island Reds will lay one egg per day” .
I know of no chicken on this earth that is capable of doing that. It is my understanding that the minimum cycle for forming and laying an egg is 26 hours which would make an egg a day impossible. I hope Adam does depend upon getting 365 eggs per year from each of his hens, even the first year. I believe a more realistic estimate would be around 280 years during the hen’s prime year.

Geeze, thanks for catching that, Larry it should have read 1 every “other” day; a typo on my part. To Adam, Larry is right on my typo. No hen is going to lay every day. I get 1 egg every “other” day from my Reds. I have twenty hens and average around 16 eggs a day from all of them. Sometimes, they like to take a rest and I may only get about ten, but honestly, that is not very often; usually once a month there is one or two days I only get about 10 eggs. Reds, in my opinion, are the best for a lot of large, brown eggs.

Hello. I am a 13 year old girl getting my own chickens for the first time. I was thinking about getting Australorps, with maybe a mix of some Rhode Island Reds. What other breeds should I use? I am mostly leaning towards the Australorps, but I need help. I have a bunch more questions, so please please please help me!!!

Congratulations on raising chickens. While they take some work, they are also a lot of fun.

Australorps are great egg layers. They also have a gentle temperament and are great around people and other chickens. Rhode Island reds are great layers and have good temperament as well. I never have a flock without Rhode Islands. I love they way they talk to you. Ours will follow us around, clucking and carrying on and it’s almost like they answer us if we talk back to them.

Our flock consists of Rhode Islands, Americanas, and Orpingtons. They all intermingle well, have good temperaments, and are all great layers.

Most breeds start laying between 5 and 6 months. Leghorns are know to start laying between 4 1/2 to 5 months. This is the usual, but chickens are known to do things on their own schedules.

All of my Rhode Island Reds started laying at 6 months. My Americanas and Orpingtons started around 5 months with the exception of 2 Orpingtons, one didn’t lay until 7 months and the other 7 1/2 months.

Yes, the article mentions the Leghorn. They are great layers, one of the best. They lay large white eggs and Rhode Island Reds lay large brown eggs. Both breeds are great for eggs and both are well adapted to heat and cold.

That`s Really Nice.. I am a boy Of 14yrs. and I am Now in The basic School. My teacher thought me About poultry and Most Especially Layers.Among the Example He gave me,There is Rhode Island Red.But it seems I can`t find the other One he gave me In Your Blog. I hope I will see It soon.

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